American aeronautical juggernaut Boeing has been a hot topic lately, though perhaps not for the best reasons. A couple of deadly 737 Max crashes in just five months spanning 2018 and 2019 has that effect, though. That's not to mention the infamous 2024 Alaska Airlines flight during which an emergency exit door plug ejected itself due to missing bolts. And now, Boeing's latest narrow-body products, the 737 Max 7 and Max 10, are struggling to get certified for use by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
That's forcing some customers like United Airlines to switch their orders to older 737 Max models instead.
However, before the recent Max iterations became a thorn in Boeing's side, the 737 was widely regarded as a durable, reliable workhouse for commercial airline fleets. Since it first took to the skies in 1967, Boeing has delivered 12,134 of the popular jets as of June 2025. That makes the 737 the most-sold commercial jet ever, although Airbus' A320 family could steal that title in the very near future, even with the A320's mysterious barking noise.
Based on our research, none of the very earliest Boeing 737 airframes from the late 1960s are still in mainstream passenger-carrying commercial service. However, the Venezuelan airline Venezolana still operates tail number YV3471 on regularly scheduled domestic routes. That 737-200 was built in 1978, which makes it over 45 years old.
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It Was Almost Lost Forever
Venezolana's most vintage Boeing 737 started life flying for Frontier Airlines, which is striking because the Frontier we know today has an all-Airbus fleet. However, the original Frontier Airlines filed for bankruptcy and was absorbed by Continental Airlines in 1986. The current Frontier Airlines that, like so many, charges fees for just about everything except using the lavatory (we shouldn't give them any ideas) was formed in 1994 and is related to the original airline in name only.
In 1985, just before the original Frontier ceased to exist, it sold the 737 to United airlines, which flew it outfit until 2001. At that point, it seemed like the end of the line for the venerable jet, which is old enough to predate the signature flat-bottom engine casings designed to accommodate larger turbofans during the 1980s. The plane was stored in the California desert for a decade before Venezolana rescued it from obscurity and brought it back to service in 2011.
According to a 2024 YouTube video from Noel Philips, an aviation fan who traveled on the jet, it's definitely beginning to show its age, with visible wear on the seats, windows, and overhead lights and air vents. While the interior could easily be refreshed, a lack of spare parts could spell the end of this survivor sooner than later.
The 737-200 Can Land On Gravel
As of May 2024, the three largest U.S.-based airlines — American, Delta, and United — had fleets with average ages between 13.4 and 16.3 years. By those standards, Venezolana's vintage Boeing 737 is ancient. It was the 512th of its type to be produced, and remarkably, there are older 737 airframes still in service. But they're in charter or cargo roles, which aren't technically regularly scheduled commercial flights.
In particular, 13 out of the world's 30 oldest jets ply their trade in our neighbor to the north, Canada, and some are as old as 52 years. Air Inuit is a major charter operator of the vintage Boeing 727-200, mostly because it's well suited to landing on unimproved gravel runways in remote Canadian villages. Unlike other jet aircraft, the older 737 is able to be fitted with a special "gravel kit" to protect critical components from flying rocks. Three of Air Inuit's jets are divided internally to hold both passengers and freight.
Similar to Air Inuit, Canada's Nolinor Aviation operates nine of the aging, fuel-thirsty 737-200 jets, sending them to remote mining operations. While the company acknowledges that propeller-driven aircraft are also an option, they're much slower than the Boeing jets. Boarding a jet aircraft that's older than you might make some passengers nervous — but then again, so does the latest whiz-bang 737 Max.
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